First edition of this diary written by a close aide to Catherine II giving an insight into the life and mind of the most powerful woman in Russian history.

Alexander Vasilievich Khrapovitskiy (1749 - 1801) served as a State Secretary to Catherine II for eleven years, and played an important role in developing and implementing her ground-breaking economic and social reforms.

Khrapovitskiy's diary was published from a manuscript in the possession of Prince Pavel Viazemskiy, who had received it from Vasiliy Zhukovskiy in the 1840s. It comprises notes from January 1782 up to September 1793. The first four years fit in a mere five pages, predominantly the Empress's sayings. However, from 1787 the notes become more detailed, including information about Imperial domestic and foreign policy, the Russo-Turkish war (1787-1791), the Russo-Swedish war (1788-1790), relations between Russia and England, Prussia, Sweden and other European countries.

The diary reveals Catherine II's feelings about events in revolutionary France, arrests of A.N. Radischev and N.I. Novikov, the prosecutions of Masons, as well as her attitude to metropolitan Platon, Potemkin, Orlov, Suvorov, Ushakov and other important figures of that era.

An abridged version of the diary was first published by Svin'in in eight parts in the literary periodical "Otechestvenniye Zapiski".

8vo 21.2 x 14.9 cm). XXIV pp., including half title and title, 610 pp.; occasional spotting. Contemporary half-calf over marbled boards; slightly rubbed, small tear to upper spine repaired.